Taylorville wins first baseball regional since ’84

Clutch hitting and a complete-game pitching performance from starter Seth Trulock gave Taylorville High School a 6-2 win over Rochester in the Class 3A Taylorville Regional title game Tuesday.

Staff report

Clutch hitting and a complete-game pitching performance from starter Seth Trulock gave Taylorville High School a 6-2 win over Rochester in the Class 3A Taylorville Regional title game Tuesday.

The game was completed at Sacred Heart-Griffin after being suspended Saturday. The contest began at Taylorville, but was suspended in the top of the fifth inning with Taylorville leading 4-2. The game resumed Tuesday with the Rockets batting in the fifth with a runner on first and two outs.

It was the first baseball regional title for the Tornadoes (15-13) since 1984. Taylorville will meet Bloomington in the second Springfield Sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. today at Robin Roberts Stadium.

In Saturday’s play, Rochester took a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first inning. The Tornadoes rallied in the bottom of the second with four runs. The key hit was a bases-loaded, three-run double to left-center field by Trulock.

The Rockets scored a run in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to cut the margin to 4-2 before play was suspended.

Taylorville got some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth Tuesday when it loaded the bases with two walks and an error. Sean Olivio followed with a two-run double to right field to make it 6-2.

“All in all, I thought both teams played pretty hard,” Tornadoes coach Arnie Spiker said. “Both pitchers were very competitive. They had about the same amount of strikeouts and walks.

“But we were able to come through with the clutch hits when two were out. And that’s what it came down to. We were fortunate to get those two-out hits.”

Leading Rochester’s offense were Garret Dooley and Jake King, who both doubled. Starting pitcher Austin Green took the loss.

From the mound, Trulock allowed only five hits in seven innings, and struck out nine.

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